- Former Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach reveals Gen Z’s career success won’t come from chasing titles or padding resumes—but by shifting their mindset. Instead, he says Gen Z should double down on attitude, authenticity, and relationships to thrive in an AI-disrupted workplace. And it’s straight out of Amazon’s Andy Jassy’s playbook.
Gen Z is staring up from the bottom of the corporate ladder, but with AI job automation and economic headwinds, the prospect of landing a job—let alone climbing the greasy pole—is more daunting than ever.
The good news, according to former Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach, is the secret to success may be well within their control. Instead of bowing out, Gen Z should double down on one trait: their mindset.
“The attitude that you bring to the office—and to your employees, your peers, and the people you serve alongside every day—is what ultimately will determine a lot of your success,” Eschenbach said on McKinsey’s Inside the Strategy Room podcast in an episode released in August 2025.
“I often say your altitude in life is completely determined by your attitude in life.”
And he’s speaking from experience: “Once I transitioned from a life of success for myself to a life of significance for others, everything changed. I think that is a key component to leading in this new world that we’re living in today.”
While Eschenbach worked at companies like Dell and Sequoia Capital before joining Workday’s C-suite in late 2022, his early career journey was far from traditional; he began his career as a competitive wrestler, something he’s said has shaped his business perspectives.
“By serving others, somehow success will follow you—probably even more success than if you focused on success itself,” he added to McKinsey.
While the 59-year-old admitted it may feel like a strange shift at first, people should come to embrace that the true marker of achievement isn’t a high-ranking title or six-figure salary, but the attitude and approach a leader brings into the room.
Eschenbach stepped down as CEO in February 2026, handing the reins back to cofounder Aneel Bhusri, who had previously led the company.
The power of the right attitude
Leaders across the business sphere are in agreement with Eschenbach: attitude is a big deal, especially for young people.
In fact, Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy echoed that getting an MBA or having the biggest LinkedIn network might not help you in your career nearly as much as having a positive disposition.
“An embarrassing amount of how well you do, particularly in your twenties, has to do with attitude,” Jassy told LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky in 2024.
Moreover, Brooks Running CEO Dan Sheridan added in an interview with Fortune’s Leadership Next podcast that maintaining the right mindset—even when times are tough—is what sets good leaders apart from great ones.
“I just think as leaders, you have to be optimistic. You have to have a winning attitude. Otherwise, no one’s going to follow you,” Sheridan said in 2025. “Your customers aren’t going to follow you. Your employees aren’t going to follow you, and your owners are probably going to scratch their head and say, what’s going on here?”
For Eschenbach, it’s something that he saw everyday in his role leading the workforce tech company—the best leaders are the ones that also keep the right attitude even as they climb the ladder.
“Having interacted with a lot of senior leaders in the world, I think the ones who are the most humble and grounded, and remember where they came from, who remain highly authentic and vulnerable, are the type of people that others will follow,” he said.
Pair an attitude adjustment with these activities
Of course, positivity alone isn’t enough to land a job or promotion. Eschenbach stresses that young people should also build strong networks that last a lifetime.
“I always say the power of your network is only as strong as the number of nodes that are in it,” he told McKinsey’s Eric Kutcher. “Find those nodes and use them to help you expand your network, because this is one of the gifts that will keep on giving in your career.”
And when it comes to AI, he urges young people to embrace, not fear, the shift.
“Lean into technology, don’t be afraid of it. Figure out how you peacefully coexist with it. Figure out how you leverage it to help you in your career, but also how it helps others drive productivity for all of human mankind.”
A version of this story originally published on Fortune.com on September 9, 2025.
More on the future of work:
- Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’
- Forget quiet quitting—4 in 10 millennials are taking ‘quiet vacations’ and checking out of work (and the country) on company dime instead
- Zillow CEO doubles down on remote-work model: ‘There is talent everywhere in this country’
